The fieldwork sketches of Arthur Bernard Deacon, made in Vanuatu in 1926–27, give us insight into the early methodologies of social anthropology and into the role of images in anthropological ways of thinking. Here I develop a perspective on field sketches that explores them not only as visual mediations of the fieldworker's subjectivity, but also as genre pieces that indicate very particular forms of training in “how to see.” I draw out the visual conventions, ways of thinking and seeing, that underscore the different strategies that Deacon used in his drawing.

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The fieldwork sketches of Arthur Bernard Deacon, made in Vanuatu in 1926–27, give us insight into the early methodologies of social anthropology and into the role of images in anthropological ways of thinking. Here I develop a perspective on field sketches that explores them not only as visual mediations of the fieldworker's subjectivity, but also as genre pieces that indicate very particular forms of training in “how to see.” I draw out the visual conventions, ways of thinking and seeing, that underscore the different strategies that Deacon used in his drawing.
Appropriating Iconicity: Why Tank Man Still Mattershttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12042Appropriating Iconicity: Why Tank Man Still MattersJennifer Hubbert2014-11-10T20:24:44.408764-05:00doi:10.1111/var.12042John Wiley & Sons, Inc.10.1111/var.12042http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12042ARTICLE114126

This article explores the reappropriation of iconic photographs, examining what happens when the iconic “Tank Man” image is modified and repurposed to new political ends. It argues that such reappropriations push viewers to read against the grain of ontological security because the ubiquity of the originals motivates the questioning of taken-for-granted meaning in new contexts. In this case, the 21st-century reappropriated Tank Man images speak less about the absence of political liberalism and democracy in China that were encapsulated in the original Tank Man image and more about their absence in the contemporary United States. At the same time, they also reflect changing global hierarchies in which the United States no longer automatically occupies a position of power relative to China. As such, reappropriations of iconic photographs have the potential to mobilize collective memory and political imaginations to new ends.

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This article explores the reappropriation of iconic photographs, examining what happens when the iconic “Tank Man” image is modified and repurposed to new political ends. It argues that such reappropriations push viewers to read against the grain of ontological security because the ubiquity of the originals motivates the questioning of taken-for-granted meaning in new contexts. In this case, the 21st-century reappropriated Tank Man images speak less about the absence of political liberalism and democracy in China that were encapsulated in the original Tank Man image and more about their absence in the contemporary United States. At the same time, they also reflect changing global hierarchies in which the United States no longer automatically occupies a position of power relative to China. As such, reappropriations of iconic photographs have the potential to mobilize collective memory and political imaginations to new ends.
Jai Bhim Comrade and the Politics of Sound in Urban Indian Visual Culturehttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12043Jai Bhim Comrade and the Politics of Sound in Urban Indian Visual CultureDeborah Matzner2014-11-10T20:24:48.402627-05:00doi:10.1111/var.12043John Wiley & Sons, Inc.10.1111/var.12043http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12043ARTICLE127138

Indian documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan's latest release Jai Bhim Comrade (2012), which depicts protest music employed by the Dalit (previously “Untouchable”) movement in Maharashtra, presents challenges to the ways in which Patwardhan's work has been characterized. Key among these are the sonic practices in which Dalits in the film engage to assert presence and agency in defiance of their caste subjugation. Situating these practices in the everyday sonic ecologies of Indian cities, I think through the importance of sound to the study of South Asian visual culture and documentary, and interrogate the primacy of the visual in scholarship on visual culture.

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Indian documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan's latest release Jai Bhim Comrade (2012), which depicts protest music employed by the Dalit (previously “Untouchable”) movement in Maharashtra, presents challenges to the ways in which Patwardhan's work has been characterized. Key among these are the sonic practices in which Dalits in the film engage to assert presence and agency in defiance of their caste subjugation. Situating these practices in the everyday sonic ecologies of Indian cities, I think through the importance of sound to the study of South Asian visual culture and documentary, and interrogate the primacy of the visual in scholarship on visual culture.
Inking a Past; Visualization as a Shedding of Uncertaintyhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12044Inking a Past; Visualization as a Shedding of UncertaintyJonathan Westin2014-11-10T20:24:47.718646-05:00doi:10.1111/var.12044John Wiley & Sons, Inc.10.1111/var.12044http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12044ARTICLE139150

This article explores how an idea about the past enters a visualization studio, and the processes by which it is transformed by the techniques of visual representation put in place to make possible the creation of inscriptions and sketches. It focuses on the formation of a fact around a series of inscriptions, as the idea is moved between a number of actants and in the process sheds all traces of uncertainty. The actions of the artists, as they interact with each other, the client and the archaeologists, are at center. As representations create ideas about the past and cement those ideas in society, one cannot separate popular visual representations from the world of science. The processes of their construction hidden from the recipient, they survive the theories that once brought them into being. As a method to describe the making of a visual representation, this article makes use of the actor–network theory concepts of enrollment, inscription, negotiation, and translation to follow an idea into image and make the layers of translation in which image production is wrapped somewhat less opaque.

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This article explores how an idea about the past enters a visualization studio, and the processes by which it is transformed by the techniques of visual representation put in place to make possible the creation of inscriptions and sketches. It focuses on the formation of a fact around a series of inscriptions, as the idea is moved between a number of actants and in the process sheds all traces of uncertainty. The actions of the artists, as they interact with each other, the client and the archaeologists, are at center. As representations create ideas about the past and cement those ideas in society, one cannot separate popular visual representations from the world of science. The processes of their construction hidden from the recipient, they survive the theories that once brought them into being. As a method to describe the making of a visual representation, this article makes use of the actor–network theory concepts of enrollment, inscription, negotiation, and translation to follow an idea into image and make the layers of translation in which image production is wrapped somewhat less opaque.
Visualizing Narcocultura: Violent Media, the Mexican Military's Museum of Drugs, and Transformative Culturehttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12045Visualizing Narcocultura: Violent Media, the Mexican Military's Museum of Drugs, and Transformative CultureEthan Sharp2014-11-10T20:24:45.078089-05:00doi:10.1111/var.12045John Wiley & Sons, Inc.10.1111/var.12045http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12045ARTICLE151163

In recent years, as the drug war has intensified, the Mexican military has allowed media professionals to explore its Museum of Drugs, which is used primarily to train soldiers, and to introduce the Museum's exhibits of narcocultura, or drug trafficking culture, to the larger public. Drawing on observations in the Museum, this article argues that the exhibits of narcocultura, by authorizing visualizations of drug traffickers for the military and the larger public and modeling the transformative logic of culture, both support the military's professionalization and serve as the basis for a campaign that calls for the watchfulness and support of civilians.

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In recent years, as the drug war has intensified, the Mexican military has allowed media professionals to explore its Museum of Drugs, which is used primarily to train soldiers, and to introduce the Museum's exhibits of narcocultura, or drug trafficking culture, to the larger public. Drawing on observations in the Museum, this article argues that the exhibits of narcocultura, by authorizing visualizations of drug traffickers for the military and the larger public and modeling the transformative logic of culture, both support the military's professionalization and serve as the basis for a campaign that calls for the watchfulness and support of civilians.
Decolonizing Encounters of the Third Kind: Alternative Futuring in Native Science Fiction Filmhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12046Decolonizing Encounters of the Third Kind: Alternative Futuring in Native Science Fiction FilmWilliam Lempert2014-11-10T20:24:47.133094-05:00doi:10.1111/var.12046John Wiley & Sons, Inc.10.1111/var.12046http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12046ARTICLE164176

In the last few years, Native filmmakers have begun drawing explicitly on the science fiction genre. Engaging recent short films depicting noncolonial encounters of the third kind and alternative utopian–dystopian futures, I argue that Native science fiction film provides a creative subversive mode of representation, uniquely positioning indigenous filmmakers to vividly reimagine a multiplicity of futures for their communities while critically addressing contemporary issues. Synthesizing scholarship in visual anthropology, afro and feminist futurism, and indigenous methodologies, I attempt to further develop an indigenous futurist analytical framework as part of a larger argument for increased anthropological engagement with Native futures.

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In the last few years, Native filmmakers have begun drawing explicitly on the science fiction genre. Engaging recent short films depicting noncolonial encounters of the third kind and alternative utopian–dystopian futures, I argue that Native science fiction film provides a creative subversive mode of representation, uniquely positioning indigenous filmmakers to vividly reimagine a multiplicity of futures for their communities while critically addressing contemporary issues. Synthesizing scholarship in visual anthropology, afro and feminist futurism, and indigenous methodologies, I attempt to further develop an indigenous futurist analytical framework as part of a larger argument for increased anthropological engagement with Native futures.
Bootlegged: Unauthorized Circulation and the Dilemmas of Collaboration in the Digital Agehttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12047Bootlegged: Unauthorized Circulation and the Dilemmas of Collaboration in the Digital AgeNoelle Stout2014-11-10T20:24:46.303834-05:00doi:10.1111/var.12047John Wiley & Sons, Inc.10.1111/var.12047http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12047ARTICLE177187

Recent innovations in digital technologies have exponentially increased the opportunities for collaborative ethnographic filmmaking between anthropologists and our interlocutors. In this article, I focus on a relatively unexplored aspect of these emergent forms of collaboration: the unruliness of circulation in the digital age. I draw on long-standing anthropological debates about controlling the dissemination of taboo cultural motifs to consider how the rapid and promiscuous circulation of digital images and video intensifies these concerns. Reflecting on my experience of collaborative video production with Cuban sex workers and the subsequent unauthorized circulation of these politicized images outside of Cuba, I show how an inability to control distribution presents pressing concerns regarding consent for a growing cadre of anthropologists working in digital mediums.

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Recent innovations in digital technologies have exponentially increased the opportunities for collaborative ethnographic filmmaking between anthropologists and our interlocutors. In this article, I focus on a relatively unexplored aspect of these emergent forms of collaboration: the unruliness of circulation in the digital age. I draw on long-standing anthropological debates about controlling the dissemination of taboo cultural motifs to consider how the rapid and promiscuous circulation of digital images and video intensifies these concerns. Reflecting on my experience of collaborative video production with Cuban sex workers and the subsequent unauthorized circulation of these politicized images outside of Cuba, I show how an inability to control distribution presents pressing concerns regarding consent for a growing cadre of anthropologists working in digital mediums.
Art, Nature, and Religion in the Central Andes: The Author's Response to the Review by Kathleen S. Fine-Darehttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12050Art, Nature, and Religion in the Central Andes: The Author's Response to the Review by Kathleen S. Fine-DareMary Strong2014-11-10T20:24:48.250436-05:00doi:10.1111/var.12050John Wiley & Sons, Inc.10.1111/var.12050http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12050BOOK REVIEW188189White Walls, “Black City”: Reflections on “Exhibition as Residency—Art, Anthropology, Collaboration”http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12051White Walls, “Black City”: Reflections on “Exhibition as Residency—Art, Anthropology, Collaboration”Monique Scott2014-11-10T20:24:46.799637-05:00doi:10.1111/var.12051John Wiley & Sons, Inc.10.1111/var.12051http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fvar.12051EXHIBITION REVIEW190198